News Releases

August 15, 2006

UN Recognizes Credit Union Role in Rural Employment

Credit unions took stage at a recent United
Nations (UN) gathering of international experts
on cooperatives and employment in Shanghai,
China.

The Division for Social Policy and
Development
of the UN Department of Economic and Social
Affairs organized the "expert group meeting" to
discuss recommendations for the UN General
Assembly on the role of cooperatives in
promoting job creation and social inclusion as
means to reducing poverty. The meeting served as
a follow-up forum to the Social Summit in
Copenhagen in 1995, where commitments were made
to reduce poverty through job creation and
social inclusion.

John Ikeda, World Council business
development
manager, gave voice to credit unions at the
meeting and advocated on their behalf for
mention in the report. The group's final
recommendations addressed governments, national
cooperative movements, UN agencies, the
International Cooperative Alliance (ICA),
international institutions, donor agencies and
cooperatives themselves. The report promoted the
role credit unions—one of the largest providers
of microfinance services in the world—through a
number of proposals to:

create credit union specific
legislation
and
supervision;

promote the technical assistance credit
unions
provide;

suggest the ICA help member cooperatives
forge
partnerships with credit unions to expand the
outreach of microfinance;

support microfinance and other employment-
creating financial services through credit
unions in developing countries.

The UN has increasingly recognized
cooperatives
as the answer to economic development in areas
where both public and private sectors have
failed or have not entered. With global
unemployment rates on the rise, cooperatives are
looked to as prime facilitators in job creation
because of their commitment to social
justice.

The UN also recognized the important role of
credit unions in building inclusive financial
systems in their 2005 Blue Book Report, which
was a set of guidelines and suggestions for
governments following the "Year of
Microcredit".

World Council of Credit Unions is the global trade association and development agency for credit unions. World Council promotes the sustainable development of credit unions and other financial cooperatives around the world to empower people through access to high quality and affordable financial services. World Council advocates on behalf of the global credit union system before international organizations and works with national governments to improve legislation and regulation. Its technical assistance programs introduce new tools and technologies to strengthen credit unions' financial performance and increase their outreach.

World Council has implemented more than 290 technical assistance programs in 71 countries. Worldwide, 60,500 credit unions in 109 countries serve 223 million people. Learn more about World Council's impact around the world at www.woccu.org.